A Bridge Too Far

Sir Dirk Bogarde's portrayal of General Browning was highly controversial, and several friends of the late General suggested that, had Browning still been alive in 1977, he would have sued director Sir Richard Attenborough and screenwriter William Goldman for libel. Bogarde took issue with the portrayal during filming, having known Browning personally, as he was a member of Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery's staff during the war. Bogarde was upset by the personal criticism he received following the release of the film, especially as he had not been involved in the writing of the script. Although Attenborough publicly took responsibility for the controversy, his relationship with Bogarde was never the same again. Browning's son said he believed his father was made the fall guy for the failure of Operation Market Garden in the film because the producers knew there would have been too much flak if they went after Montgomery.

The Allied plans for Market-Garden were correctly shown as falling into German hands from a downed Allied plane. In the film, they were ignored. In actuality, they were turned over to German paratroop expert General Student, who realized their accuracy and importance and used them in determining his troop deployments.

The UK cinema release was cut by the BBFC in order to get an "A" rating by editing out the word "fucking" in the scene where James Caan holds the doctor at gunpoint, while Elliott Gould's line "Roll the fuckers" was dubbed over with "Roll it, fellas." In addition, a shot of a dead soldier with his intestines exposed was cut, and closeups of men's bloody faces during the assault on Arnhem were also removed. The cuts were restored in the 15-rated video and DVD versions.